Geneva: The World Health Organization announced that it will rename the increasingly spreading monkeypox virus after a group of scientists claimed the name could be “stigmatizing” New York Post reported on Wednesday.
“WHO is also working with partners and experts from around the world on changing the name of monkeypox virus,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced, adding that “We will make announcements about the new names as soon as possible.”
This move by the WHO comes after a letter from a group of 30 international scientists in which they requested upon the “urgent need” to switch the name.
“Given the increasingly rapid communication of, and attention to, the international human MPXV outbreak, it is important to consider an appropriate, non-discriminatory, and non-stigmatizing nomenclature and classification of MPXV clades,” the letter states.
“In the context of the current global outbreak, continued reference to, and nomenclature of this virus being African is not only inaccurate but is also discriminatory and stigmatizing. The most obvious manifestation of this is the use of photos of African patients to depict the pox lesions in mainstream media in the global north. Recently, Foreign Press Association, Africa issued a statement urging the global media to stop using images of African people to highlight the outbreak in Europe” the letter said.
The scientists proposed “a novel classification of MPXV that is non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing and aligned with best practices in naming of infectious diseases in a way that minimizes unnecessary negative impacts on nations, geographic regions, economies and people and that considers the evolution and spread of the virus.” (UNI)
